Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has vowed that Iran will have no choice but to surrender as the joint US-Israeli operation in the country stretched into a second week.

Hegseth made the assertion as he sat down with Major Garrett for an interview on ’60 Minutes’ that aired Sunday night, when he was asked what President Donald Trump meant when he said the US is demanding ‘unconditional surrender’ from Iran.

‘It means we’re fighting to win. It means we set the terms. We’ll know when they’re not capable of fighting. There’ll be a point where they’ll have no choice but to do that. Whether they know it or not, they will be combat-ineffective. They will surrender,’ he replied.

The Defense Secretary then went on to say that Trump will ultimately set the terms of Iran’s defeat.

‘Whether they want to admit it or not, whether their pride lets them say it out loud or not — it’s President Trump who will set the terms of that,’ Hegseth said.

Trump told the Times of Israel on Sunday that the decision to ultimately end the war will be made ‘mutually’ between him and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

‘I think it’s mutual… a little bit. We’ve been talking,’ the president said. ‘I’ll make a decision at the right time, but everything’s going to be taken into account.’

Still, Hegseth vowed in the ’60 Minutes’ interview that the US military is ‘willing to go as far as we need to to be successful’ in the operation to eliminate Iran’s nuclear capabilities.

When he was then asked about the option of sending boots on the ground, Hegseth said: ‘We reserve the right – we would be completely unwise if we did not reserve the right to take any particular option, whether it included boots on the ground or no boots on the ground.’

Either way, Hegseth said: ‘The president’s been right to say there will be casualties.’

‘Things like this don’t happen without casualties,’ he asserted. ‘There will be more casualties… especially our generation knows what it’s like to see Americans come home in caskets.

Read More: Pete Hegseth vows Iran will surrender and Trump will set the terms with US forces ready ‘to go as far as needed’